JWANENG: Team Ford has put an end to Team Toyota's dominance in the Toyota Gazoo Racing 1000 Botswana Kalahari Desert Race (TGR1000) over the weekend.
Ford represented by the Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM) Ford Castrol Team scooped the first and second positions to claim weekend long TGR1000 in its return to Jwaneng.
It had seemed almost impossible to stop Toyota's near decade long winning streak in the race popularly known as Mantshwabisi. However, the NWM Ford Castrol Team had dominated the proceedings in Jwaneng for most parts of the three day racing.
The older of the Woolridge brothers, Gareth and his navigator, Boyce Dreyer were first across the finish line to claim a hard fought win in the Kalahari Desert. In second was the younger of the Woolridge brothers, Lance and Kenny Gilbert as they pulled a shocker to claim a podium finish while in third was Toyota’s Guy Botterill.
Driving the NWM Ford Castrol T1 RangeTGR Gareth had to recover from a third place finish on day one on Saturday to clinch his first TGR1000. It was heavily contested race with Toyota’s experience Henk Lategan also at some point had threw himself in the mix as he kept with the leading pack. It was tough race for the drivers as they battled against a terrain filled with overgrown bush and rathe extremely tight route.
To add to the excitement, there was not much between the teams and the battles that started in the time trials on Friday, continued for the last two days of the marathon event. A total of 40 teams in both the Production and Special Vehicle Categories received the starting orders on Saturday with 26 managing to successfully complete the day.
